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MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONGRESSWOMAN SCHAKOWSKY EXTENDS PERSONNEL POLICY TO INCLUDE GENDER VARIANCE

Contact:

Miranda Stevens-Miller

It's Time, Illinois!

708-535-1506 (ITIL Office)

847-394-9293 (Miranda direct)

ItsTimeIL@aol.com (ITIL office)

MirandaSt1@aol.com (Miranda direct)

P.O. Box 3932

Oak Park, IL 60303

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WASHINGTON, D.C. --- June 14, 1999 ---- Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (9^th District, Illinois), became the first Member of Congress to officially recognize gender variant people when she amended her office nondiscrimination policies to include "gender self-image or identity."

The new equal employment opportunity policy states that the Congresswoman's office "does not discriminate on the basis of an individual's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender self-image or identity, national origin, disability, veterans' status, age or any other factors prohibited by federal law." Furthermore, the new anti-harassment policy states that "the Office is firmly committed to providing its employees with a workplace that is free of discrimination, harassment or intimidation" based on the same factors.

The terms "gender self-image and identity" are broadly inclusive of people whose gender expression may fall outside of society's gender norms. Such gender variant people include transgender individuals as well as men and women, regardless of sexual orientation, who may be perceived as overly effeminate or masculine.

The 9^th Congressional District of Illinois encompasses the North lakefront neighborhoods of Chicago as well as Evanston and other Chicago suburbs. Evanston is the only city in Illinois which has a Human Rights Ordinance protecting gender variant people from discrimination in employment and other situations.

Congresswoman Schakowsky has long been a leader in the fight for human rights, for women's rights, and for the rights of sexual and gender minorities. During her terms of office in the Illinois State legislature, she co-sponsored a human rights bill which would extend the Illinois Human Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and she worked to strengthen the Illinois Hate Crimes Act.

The new policy was enacted following a meeting with representatives of It's Time, Illinois, a political action organization for the transgender and gender variant community in Illinois. The meeting took place on May 25 during GenderPAC's National Gender Lobby Days in Washington. GenderPAC is a national public advocacy coalition for gender, affectional and racial equality.

Said Miranda Stevens-Miller, Chair of It's Time, Illinois, "Congresswoman Schakowsky's support of our transgender and gender variant population is very encouraging. Including us in her personnel policy is quite a symbolic statement of the human dignity of a group that has for too long been cast aside by society. We hope that this opens the doors for many others to follow."